Soup Recipes

After the disappointing batch of roasted broccoli soup, the Accidental Locavore was on a quest to find a better recipe. This one from the New York Times definitely fit the bill with broccoli and potatoes. And you think you’re being healthy, no milk or cream, but there is a good bit of butter and oil. Serves 4-6.

½ cup olive oil, plus more as needed

2 heads broccoli (about 2 pounds), separated into small florets

2 ½ teaspoons salt, more to taste

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, chopped

½ teaspoons black pepper, more to taste

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ pound potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

¼ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice, more to taste

Grated Parmesan, to finish

In a large soup pot, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat. Add about a third of the broccoli, just enough so that it covers the bottom of the pan in a single layer without overcrowding. Cook broccoli without moving it for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until dark brown on 1 side only (leave the other side bright green). Transfer to a big bowl and repeat with more oil and the remaining broccoli. When all the broccoli has been browned, season with 1 teaspoon salt and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Add butter and remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to pan. Add onions and garlic, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add potato to the pot with 1 quart water and remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer, cover pot and cook until potato is just tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add broccoli, cover again and cook until tender, another 5 to 10 minutes.

My verdict: Oh so much better than the roasted broccoli soup, that I couldn’t stop tasting it! I ended up running it through a blender because I was afraid the stick blender would leave soup all over the kitchen. I wish I’d kept a few small pieces of broccoli aside to give it a little more texture, but that’s a small thing. If you’re not a fan of spicy food, you might want to taste it before you (cautiously) add the red pepper flakes. Mine were pretty fresh and gave it a nice kick, but I probably added more that ¼ teaspoon to the pot. I’ve made it a couple of times and it’s definitely a keeper!

When the Accidental Locavore saw this recipe, it looked like a no-brainer and then when my cousin offered me the pumpkin seeds (they’re the garnish) from her Halloween effort, it became a must-try. This made about a quart of soup. The list looks long, but half of it is for the pumpkin seeds which can be made in advance.

Preheat oven to 375°. Spread the broccoli on a large baking sheet and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Roast until broccoli is tender and browned, about 25 minutes.

In a Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the coriander and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add roasted broccoli, buttermilk, and just enough stock to barely cover vegetables. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat. Working in batches if necessary, transfer vegetables and liquid to a blender. Blend broccoli until a smooth puree forms (be careful and don’t over-fill the blender). Slowly add 4 tablespoons of the olive oil while blender is running. Return the soup to the pot and add as much of the remaining stock as necessary to thin to your desired consistency. Season with salt to taste. Serve with pumpkin seed garnish and enjoy!

Pumpkin Seeds:

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a mixing bowl, toss the pumpkin seeds with 2 tablespoons olive oil, coriander, cumin, mustard seeds and turmeric. Season with salt. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast until fragrant, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Taste and add more salt to taste.

My verdict: There are things that work and things that don’t. In this case, the pumpkin seeds are definitely worth doing (although I added a lot more salt than the recipe called for), and make a great snack! Any kind of winter squash seeds will work as well. The soup on the other hand was a big disappointment. Even with multiple blending, it still had little tough bits of broccoli – probably from the stems – that were annoying. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a big broccoli taste either. I would have thought that roasting it would have given it a lot of flavor. Frank thought there was too much oil in it and I thought it badly needed seasoning, but even salt, cumin and lemon zest didn’t go far enough.

After the first round of sandwiches, the Accidental Locavore is always looking for interesting uses for turkey leftovers. Since there was an early influx of leftovers from making gravy with a bunch of wings, I shredded the meat and used it for a (not-very-authentic) version of chili. This was pretty free-form, so use it as a starting point (and don’t let all the ingredients scare you, I just used what was in the house). Made about 3 big bowls.

In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions, poblano, serrano chile and garlic and stir to coat with the oil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until the onions are translucent. Remove the cover and sauté until they are well caramelized and reduced by about ½.

While the onions are cooking, briefly toast the ancho and chipotle chiles in a small fry pan over medium heat, about a minute on each side. Remove from heat and rehydrate in a small bowl of boiling water for 20 minutes. Slice into 1/8” strips.

Add the chile powder, cumin and coriander to the onion mix and sauté for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the beer and deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom. Cook for about 5 minutes until the alcohol has cooked out.

Add the tomatoes (breaking them up if you use whole tomatoes), turkey, beans, brown sugar, chocolate and oregano. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Bring to a boil, then to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve garnished with cilantro and grated cheddar and enjoy!

My verdict: Not at all authentic, but tasted great and satisfied my craving for chili! As I said in the introduction, this looks like a lot of ingredients, but it was all stuff I had in the house, so I just tossed it in. I think it was a little sweet with the brown sugar, so I added about a tablespoon of cider vinegar to cut some of the sweetness. The chocolate and beer add a nice depth of flavor, but, again, you can leave them out—although I’d probably add a little chicken broth to replace the beer.

After a few wonderful bowls of soup at this year’s Soup-a-Bowl (the annual benefit for the Poughkeepsie Farm Project), the Accidental Locavore’s husband was heard muttering about how he’d like some of that potato leek soup with the roasted garlic. And when he came back from the farm with leeks and potatoes, I knew he was serious! This is mostly from a recipe of Ina Garten’s I found. Serves 6.

Combine the potatoes and leeks on a sheet pan in a single layer. Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper, and toss to coat. Roast for 40 to 45 minutes, turning them with a spatula a few times, until very tender and lightly golden.

Remove the pan from the oven and place over 2 burners. Stir in the wine and 1 cup of chicken stock and cook over low heat, scraping up any roasted bits sticking to the pan.

In batches, transfer the roasted vegetables to a food processor or blender, adding the pan liquid and about 5 cups of the chicken stock in batches and purée. As you finish a batch, pour it into a large pot or Dutch oven. When it’s all in the pot, add the remaining 1- 2 cups of stock to make a thick soup. Add the cream, crème fraîche, and salt and pepper as needed. Heat over medium-low heat until heated through. Serve and enjoy!

My verdict: I’ve never made vichyssoise with crème fraîche before and if there wasn’t some in the fridge, I probably wouldn’t have used it this time either – which would have been a big mistake! It gave this very rich soup a nice depth of flavor that’s sometimes missing. Roasting the potatoes and leeks was a great idea and the next time I do it, I’d just toss some garlic cloves in the mix. If you were doing this in the summer and didn’t want to heat up your oven, grilling them would most likely be great! If you like a finer purée, use a blender, for a chunkier version the food processor is fine.

In preparation for this I roasted 4 heads of garlic separately (cut 1/2″ off the tops, put in an oven-proof dish, sprinkle a little olive oil, cover with foil and roast at 400 degrees for an hour), not knowing how many I’d need (about 1 1/2 heads) to flavor but not overwhelm the leeks. Frank was wondering about adding bacon which would be fine, but not necessary – maybe as a garnish? This is great hot or cold, so depending on the season…

About The Accidental Locavore Blog

The Accidental Locavore blog is about what I've eaten and cooked, with an emphasis on local and fresh. The posts are centered around my food adventures and recipes. It's always a surprise, and it's always about real food for real people. Sign up for the blog and see how easy and delicious cooking amazing local food can be!